Liveblog: Apple’s Q4 2013 earnings call

How well have the iPhone 5C and 5S sold since their launch?

The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts just before Apple's iPad announcement. The new iPads won't show up in Apple's quarterly results until next time.

Andrew Cunningham

Apple is set to announce its Q4 2013 earnings this afternoon at 5pm Eastern (2pm Pacific), according to the company's investor page. As we usually do, we'll be following the fun and liveblogging the results. These calls have occasionally given us news about new products, but more frequently they're a good way to check on how the company's major product lines are doing and to get a glimpse of Apple's plans for future growth in the US and abroad. They're also good if you like to hear Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer shoot down less-than-subtle analyst inquiries about watches and television sets.

The last fiscal quarter of 2013 is likely to be better for Apple than the previous two, owing mostly to the launch of the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. We know that those two phones sold a combined nine million units in their first weekend on the market, and we may get an update on those numbers on this call (though Apple is often reluctant to break individual products out of the overarching iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iPod categories). The smart money says that iPhone sales will be up year-over-year, iPads and Macs will be down-to-flat, and iPod sales will continue their long, steady decline. Apple just announced new iPads last week, but those won't show up in the quarterly results until next time.

We always have the drop in sales the quarter before new product announcements. So that's nothing new. I expect iPad sales to be down to flat because of this. In fact, if sales are flat, that's actually a win for them.

Iphones aren't going to be separated by model? That's a shame becuase I'd like to see how the 5s and 5C fared individually. I hear the 5s did great (the shortage wasn't strictly b/c they made too few units for the first run and they sold out only b/c of that, but b/c there was that much interest and demand for them), whereas the 5C was still too much cost, despite still being a not a bad phone (although it mostly is an Iph5). It just didn't sell as well especially in foreign markets.

Do "Ipods" refer to the Nano/Classic, the Ipod Touches, or both? Either way, I'd like to see the breakdown here as well. Iphones are still overkill for some folks, so an IpT makes better sense. I hear Ipod classic/nano are doing good, despite some nutheads saying the IpT would replace all of them. I like having a physical scroll wheel and the 60GB+ of space (even though I haven't used it all, not by a long shot, but it's nice to know it's there, and for others, I'm sure they have), and Nano is still ideal for those who workout or do heavy physical actitivity while wanting to bring their Ipods along.

I don't know why anyone's bothered it's not like Tim Cook's going to run around the stage dancing like a nut while shouting stuff like "I love this company" and "you can't afford me." until his face turns red.

On a serious note do Apple still give all there earnings geographically rather than per product because that was really annoying?

On a serious note do Apple still give all there earnings geographically rather than per product because that was really annoying?

Apple break down revenues by both geo and product lines.

I think you confuse them with Amazon, Google and Samsung. They are not open about their own performance.

It's interesting that Apple is the most open and transparent company in the mobile space.

They're only as open as their shareholders demand them to be. If their segment or share of the market shrinks, I'd wager that you'd see that breakdown by device and more stringent questioning on why they're continuing to produce x or y device if it doesn't perform to expectations.

They're only as open as their shareholders demand them to be. If their segment or share of the market shrinks, I'd wager that you'd see that breakdown by device and more stringent questioning on why they're continuing to produce x or y device if it doesn't perform to expectations.

Every company has to balance giving away valuable competitive information against shareholders' legitimate needs to understand where the company is going financially.

Occasionally, “a” company (and I don't mean Apple) undergoes a major reorg and changes reporting in a way that makes it harder to see what's happening; shareholders then have to figure out whether the company is trying to keep up customers' perceptions of success, or trying to job them, more. Can't always have everything that you want.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.